Nine Months Gone By (I Could Have Cooked a Baby By Now!), My Impending Adulthood, and All the Things and People That Make My Life

I can’t believe that it’s already the 1st of March, that’s it already spring. Where the hell has this year gone? I started this blog almost a year ago. It’s been almost nine months since I started this adventure in Munich. Time goes by so fast. This time last year I was working diligently on my graduation capstone and was taking care of Baby D five days a week. It feels so far away. So much has happened since then and my life has changed in every way possible. I have been so blessed to have this experience and I wish that there were more than just three months left to enjoy it. Unfortunately, that is all that I have left – 110 days, just a little over three months. There is still so much that I can do in that time – I’m going to be traveling this spring (budget-willing!), visiting Barcelona, Spain and, hopefully Verona and Venice, Italy. I’m going to Cologne on the 11th of this month. And in May, I’m going to Berlin to visit friends who live there. There’s another beer festival coming up in March – the Starkbierfest – which means that the dirndl is coming out again and my girlfriends and I can feel like real Bavarians. I’ve fallen short on my Munich bucket list but I’ll pick up on it again – I have a lot of stuff to catch up on that I haven’t even posted yet. Bear with me. I’ll get through it eventually.

Life has been good. Things in Munich are wonderful, I have no complaints. My social life here far outweighs my au pair responsibilities. Last weekend we completely exhausted ourselves partying. One going away party after another and two 6 am returns in a row. Club nights, bars, beer, tequila. We take it all in stride and we look out for each other whenever and wherever we can. I spent all day Sunday in bed watching How I Met Your Mother. It was glorious. Then my lovely friend, Ana, fed me a delicious pasta dinner and we talked for hours about everything going on in our lives. I love weekends here – I live for them. I will miss this when I go home to live in my mom’s basement and start my grown-up life. I will miss this last chance that I’ve been given to really just be young and carefree. It doesn’t have to stop after this but it will. I’m making that choice. I’m choosing to grow up and take on a more responsible adult role. Which is fine with me. But, for now and in spite of my near and not so distant future, I choose to enjoy the time that I have left here and to just live my life as it comes.

My favorite picture of the week:

My best girlfriend, Fionnuala. I LOVE HER.

Other things I’ve done in the last week or so:

• I watched 127 Hours about the guy who cuts off his arm. Incredible.
• Called my mom, twice, over the course of five days and talked to her for over an hour both times. I miss her. A lot.

I can’t wait to hang out with my mom and Ruby Tuesday.

• Earned 80 EUR on the side. It’s a secret! :) And then spent it all. Another lesson learned. Sigh.
• Played at the spielplatz with the cutest twins in all of Munich.

Das ist alles. Danke. Tschüs!

The End Is... Here

I am in the library at CSUMB right now (probably the last time that I will ever say that). I just finished my last (and I mean that!) final for my undergraduate college experience. Now I am organizing my note cards for my Capstone presentation. Glue stick, scissors, highlighters, and all.

Tomorrow at 1 pm, I present my Capstone in front of my peers, professors, and family. Five months of work, 20 something hours of research (at least!), 45 pages, all presented in 16 slides within 15 minutes.

And then I'm done! Forever! 

Or at least until I get to grad school.

Oh, and graduation is on Saturday. Three days from now. What?!

Taking Care of Business

All of the things that I need to figure out before I leave:

• Move out of my apartment
  
• Post my stuff on Craigslist and try to sell to my friends on Facebook
  
• Find somewhere to store my stuff for the year that I’m gone that is free or cheap
  
• Break my Verizon contract; try to get out of paying $150 cancellation fee
  
• Figure out what to do with my DirecTV account; suspend it for 6 months or pay a $240 cancellation fee on my broken contract. Because apparently I signed up for 24 months, not 12. Sigh.
  
• Budget for my credit card payments and my medical bills (Western Dental: $130/mo starting July 11th)
  
• Graduate from college
  
• Figure out what will become of my eventual student loan payments. Six months after I graduate (which is pretty much six months from now), I will have to start paying on my $41k total. Yikes.
  
  • Check up on exit loan counseling and possible deferment options
• Email The Frau for insight about German banks, language courses, and (gasp!) Munich graduate school programs!!
  
• Go through my clothes and get rid of anything that I haven’t worn in the last 6 months and give them to Stella
  
• Find out about getting a cell phone in Munich; iPhone? Oooo! Maybe not.
  
• Figure out what I am going to take to Germany and how I am going to get it there
  
• Pack for Montana
  
• Pay (or budget to pay for) my $212 speeding ticket
  
• Talk to the Campus Health Center about the $200 bill that Doctors on Duty sent me that was supposed to be FREE
  
• Practice my Capstone presentation; bring it to under 15 minutes
  
• Study for my final in my Adolescence class
  
• Write my mom, dad, brother, and best friend letters (So they know how much I love them, just in case something happens while I’m gone.)
  
• Budget, budget, budget: I don’t have any money! Sigh.

There’s more, I know there is. I think that my brain is just having trouble wrapping itself around all of this crap. I better get started.
Being an adult is hard.

Vlog: Episode 2 - Time Flies

Fantastic Wonderland, Farewell Work, and Hello Mini-Vacay

I think I’m in denial. I don’t want to leave Monterey. I mean, I do but I’m not ready. Actually, I am ready but I’m just… I don’t know. It has been so beautiful here in Monterey and the city has been transformed into this fantastic wonderland of blue skies, warm sunshine, and aquamarine oceans. I walked to work on Sunday and it was the best decision I ever made. It was such a blessing to be able to enjoy the beautiful day and walk along the water, taking in the scenery. I’m already missing it and I haven’t even left yet.

I can’t believe how fast time is going by though. Soon I will be leaving. I graduate in 19 days. I leave Monterey in 21. I head off to Montana with my dad on the 24th. I’ll be there for a few weeks and then it’s off to Germany on June 14th. In preparation for all of this, I’m trying to pack up my apartment, organize my life, get rid of my crap, plan my financials, do my homework, and still have enough energy and time left to try to enjoy these last few weeks with my friends.

I don’t want to think about how much I will miss them. The last five years have been the best of my life and I am so grateful for those who have shared them with me. Old friends and new, it’s going to be hard to leave everyone. And the kids that I’ve been caring for over the last few years. Fortunately, I was able to spend a few hours with Baby D on Saturday night but damn, I’m going to miss that little guy. Wouldn’t you?

Fortunately, my time is going to be pretty well spread over the next few weeks. I’m not working anymore. My last day at MyMuseum was on Sunday. Oh, yeah. I work(ed) at this really cool children’s museum in Monterey. And what good is a last day without a photo shoot? Thank you, Chesty for being my photographer.

I am going to miss the gossip at the front desk, kids peeing on the floor, cleaning the party room, ordering pizzas, and putting on the iPod after close. ‘Twas grand. But I’m not all the way done yet! I get to look forward to my going-away potluck at Chesty’s house. Woo!

Tomorrow I am going home to Morro Bay to visit mi madre for Mother’s Day. It’s going to be a nice little mini-vacation. Christy (my favorite cousin sister) and her kids are coming up to visit us and we’re going to play at the beach in the sunshine with my aunt and her kids. Should be fun. I need a little get-a-away before my final exam and Capstone deadline!

Two Months and Counting

Exactly two months from today I will be on a plane to Munich, Germany. I just had to say that. Although I know it makes some very sad (my dearest friends, I love you so much for this) but I am extremely excited to go. I will miss my life in California but I am so ready to get out and explore the world. I deserve it, don’t you think? Which reminds me…

I turned in my Capstone on Monday which, as I’ve mentioned before, is my graduating thesis project. I signed up to give my presentation to the class on Monday and so my prof was quick to read through and get comments on my project. She handed them back in today and I was sure that she would have marked it up and told me that my conclusion was weak, that I was missing pieces and information. Ladies and gentleman, I should not have doubted myself. She said that she loved it, that it was very good, and all that I needed to fix were some tense uses and most of the APA formatting. I was incredibly relieved to know that over the next month and a half, I have all of my work cut out for me. I just need to edit it, make out my presentation for class and for the Capstone Festival (which is May 20th, FYI) and then put together my final binder which will be submitted and then my project will be archived. Woo! The end is so near I can actually feel it under my feet!

This is me and my ‘I love it’ Capstone draft. :) :)

I wish I had more news to report but I don’t! Tomorrow is Happy Hour at Santa Lucia with some friends. More German bier!

Sunsets, Speedy Gonzales, and Some Other Stuff

Is it Monday yet? That is when my Capstone is due. I really, really need for it to be due. I’ve hit 20+ pages and I think I’m at the point where I’m just willing to start bullshitting the rest of my paper. However many more pages that it will be. I’m shooting for anywhere between 26 and 30. Fortunately, this is just the submission for the rough draft. I have a month to un-bullshit should I decide to take that route. Ha.

Surprisingly enough, I have been doing other things that do not pertain to academia. I’m house/pet sitting right now for a family that I work for. I’ve been babysitting their kids for the last 2 1/2 years and at least once a month (or so it seems) they ask me to stay at their house and hang out with their Scottie, Miss Stella Louise. Her and I are best buds, I do this all the time. So, I’ve been making myself at home in their Pebble Beach mini-mansion complete with endless amounts of TV channels and free and unfettered access to their food stuffs.

Tuesday night Stella and I ventured just around the corner to 17 Mile Drive where I attempted to take pictures of the sunset with my new camera. It was insanely windy and naturally, very cold, so I was running into all kinds of problems. My lens cap was flying all kinds of crazy and every time Stella ran ahead of me, she pulled the leash and the camera jerked away, resulting in a crooked picture of sand. Eventually, I just left her in the car and I battled Mother Nature without my trusty sidekick.

One thing I am definitely  going to miss about California…

Amazing sunsets. Yeah, the wind was cold and I couldn’t feel my fingers and my hair was all kinds of crazy but it was so worth it to just hang out in the fading daylight for a half an hour. Much better than doing stupid homework.

Aside from my mansion dwelling privileges, I’ve been working too. I’m a nanny to the cutest 9-month-old kid that ever lived. Don’t believe me?

I told you. So yeah, I’ve been spending 20 hours a week with this kid, give or take, and we do all kinds of things like play with blocks, eat squishy foods, go for walks, and crawl around like Speedy Gonzales. I’m only taking care of him until mid May so I’m trying to make the most of everyday. Yeah, sometimes I’m tired and occaisonally he’ll decide that he’d rather scream at me than be my baby friend but we make it through. We’re buddies. I’m going to hate to have to leave him, especially because he won’t remember me. Thank God for e-mail, I’m sure his mom won’t disappoint. I’ll get updates all the time.

Between work and school, I’ve actually been planning for my trip. It’s insane. I can already sense how stressed out I am going to be during those last few weeks of May when I have to present my thesis, graduate, entertain family, move out of my apartment, and head out to Montana all in the course of like five days. Fortunately, my Montana vacation will afford me a bit of a relaxing vacation after all of that. I do, however, wish that I could spend more time my mom and my friends before I leave for Germany. :( Ah, but with the way things are shaping up, I can only give to them the time available to me, which is not a lot. So, I intend to make the most of my last few weeks in Monterey.

On a completely different note, I’ve actually done one thing for myself that will benefit me during my time in Munich. I bought myself some Crocs. And this won’t be like the time that I bought myself $90 Choco’s and then misplaced them, probably in a bag to Goodwill. I’ve always secretly wanted  a pair of Crocs and now I actually have them. They weren’t even that expensive, about $30. I wanted some comfortable shoes for the seemingly endless amounts of walking that everyone tells me I will be doing in Munich and Crocs seemed like a good road to take. On the more expensive side of things, I also bought myself a pair of Uggs. I’m optimistic that it will be a good investment.

 

So, as the Germans would say, “Auf weidersehn!” Well, they would probably spell it correctly, but you get what I’m saying!